the bloody civil war in syria and there's new word from the defense secretary leon panetta that the assad regime appears to be slowing its preparations for the possible use of chemical weapons against rebel forces. all this as an activist group inside syria claims they are in full control of a massive military base not far from the country's largest city. national security correspondent jennifer giffin is following it from the pentagon. hi, jennifer. >> reporter: hi, alisyn. the pentagon never officially acknowledged the intelligence reports that the components for sarin nerve gas had been mixed. u.s. officials spoke on background about the intelligence that suggested there were signs it was being readied for use. though they would never give specifics about which syrian base, for instance, they had indications was making the alleged preparations. today defense secretary leon panetta en route to the middle east appeared to backtrack. >> at this point the intelligence is really kind of leveled off. we haven't anything new indicating, you know, any aggressive steps to move forward in that w